The jaw-dropping XI Man City could’ve had without their transfer market mistakes
Manchester City have earned praise for years for their ‘flawless’ transfer business, but if you look a little closer, they haven’t always got every deal right.
It’s difficult to criticise City too much considering they’ve won the Premier League every season bar one since 2017-18 and completed a continental treble in 2022-23, smashing records along the way.
However, a little bit of complacency and – dare we suggest – arrogance in the transfer market has seen them sell a few top players too soon, which has aged poorly as their once star-studded squad suddenly looks increasingly mortal with age and game time catching up on them.
With that in mind, we’ve taken a look at the players City have sold in recent times and constructed a ‘what could’ve been’ XI involving some seriously special footballers they perhaps gave up on a little too prematurely.
GK: Ederson
No changes between the sticks, despite Ederson showing recently that he’s far from perfect.
City could perhaps do with another goalkeeper now that the Brazilian has shown his frailties, but they’ve not kept a hold of him at the expense of any other top goalkeepers, with the likes of Zack Steffen and Claudio Bravo leaving the club previously.
Pep Guardiola has recently turned to Stefan Ortega, perhaps in a bid to ensure they don’t regrettably lose him in the near future.
RB: Pedro Porro
Stick a fork in Kyle Walker because he is done – and has been for the last few seasons in truth.
Porro is by no mean perfect, but is the ultimate modern right-back and is still one of the most important players profile-wise at Tottenham. In a more secure and less Spursy City outfit, he’d likely step up his game significantly and look annoyingly world class rather quickly.
If City hadn’t have sold him as quickly as they signed him, he could’ve been the answer to several problems this season.
CB: Ruben Dias
Again, no changes here. Dias’ absence with injuries has been felt and is a massive reason why City have struggled to keep teams out this season.
The Portuguese might not be the fastest or most flashy in the side, but he’s undoubtedly the leader among men and reads the game brilliantly. Priceless.
CB: John Stones
It’s the same deal with Stones, who has been instrumental to an era of unrelenting success at City, but has also struggled with injuries.
He spent the beginning of the 2023-24 season on the shelf and has missed another chunk of action this season, with his body beginning to fail him when City need him most. Replacing a defender as talented as Stones is nigh-on impossible, but perhaps City could’ve been more proactive with their futureproofing.
LB: Josko Gvardiol
Gvardiol’s £77million signing in 2023 went some way towards trying to regenerate their back line, but with City lacking a left-back to hang their hat on, the Croatian has found himself playing that role more often than not for Guardiola.
He plays it well, too, which is probably why City haven’t rushed to sign an out-and-out left-back or bothered to replace Oleksandr Zinchenko who left in 2022. They can’t paper over cracks forever, though.
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CM: Rodri
We’ll cut City a little bit of slack here, purely because it’s nigh-on impossible to find someone who can do Rodri’s job.
Not only is that highlighted by the fact that City have struggled immensely without the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, but also because no other elite club in football has their own Rodri.
The 28-year-old is quite literally the best in class and essentially irreplaceable, meaning Guardiola is going to have to get creative to find a solution to the problem.
CM: Douglas Luiz
One thing City appear to be struggling with this season is energy in midfield, which Luiz provided in abundance for Aston Villa after leaving Manchester.
The Brazilian developed into one of the best midfielders in the Premier League with his outrageous feats from box to box and while it’s been a slow start for him at Juventus, there is no doubting his quality.
Tenacious, a fantastic passer and good for a goal, he’d profile perfectly in a stale City midfield right now, be it as a Rodri compromise or alongside the Spaniard.
CM: Kevin De Bruyne
The Belgian’s powers are waning as injuries begin to become more frequent, but there’s no denying his influence in the form of sheer magic when he is fit.
De Bruyne will go down as one of the Premier League’s greatest and for as long as City have him, he’ll be in their strongest XI for the volume of chances he can create from thin air. Erling Haaland especially enjoys playing with him.
RW: Cole Palmer
An own goal of monstrous proportions, nobody saw Palmer becoming *this* good after leaving City to join Chelsea, but he has and we are off our seats for the wizard from Wythenshawe. What a player.
Since heading to London, Palmer has weighed in with 36 goals and 21 assists in just 62 games for Chelsea and been one of the Premier League’s most consistently brilliant players over the last 18 months or so. To say City could do with his spark right now is an understatment.
He’d slot in perfectly coming inside from the right flank, before taking the crown from De Bruyne as a free-roaming midfielder in the seasons to come.
A rare howler from City in letting him go.
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ST: Erling Haaland
Selling Julian Alvarez and not replacing him might’ve been a little (very) stupid, but given the money Atletico Madrid offered for the forward, City had to accept the transfer.
It’s given Erling Haaland a lot more responsibility to score goals and that has proven troublesome in more recent weeks. However, even with all their struggles so far, the Norwegian still has 13 in 15 in the Premier League. He’s a freak of nature.
The best striker in the world in the eyes of many and rightly so.
LW: Leroy Sane
Sane’s tenure at City seemed somewhat doomed for a while, with the constant links with a move back to Germany coupled by an ACL tear at the beginning of what was his final season at the club.
Fans were understandably gutted to see the winger go, with him playing a pivotal role in winning back-to-back league titles in breathtaking style. Sanctioning his sale to Bayern Munich in 2020 for an initial €45million felt like an oversight and absolutely was.
Now 28, it’s scary to think how lethal Sane could’ve been and could still be for City these days, linking up with an embarrassment of riches in attack. The one that got away.